


May the Odds Be...

by bansheequeen (queenbanshee), xtremeroswellian



Series: The Hunger Games [1]
Category: Smallville, The Hunger Games
Genre: Dystopian Future, F/M, Hunger Games, Kandorians - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-14
Updated: 2020-05-14
Packaged: 2021-03-02 20:14:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 21,777
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24172636
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/queenbanshee/pseuds/bansheequeen, https://archiveofourown.org/users/xtremeroswellian/pseuds/xtremeroswellian
Summary: The Hunger Games, Smallville-style. Canon up through season 8's finale, "Doomsday."
Relationships: Chloe Sullivan & Carter Hall, Clark Kent & Chloe Sullivan, Lois Lane & Chloe Sullivan, Oliver Queen & Carter Hall, Oliver Queen & Chloe Sullivan, Oliver Queen/Chloe Sullivan
Series: The Hunger Games [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1744666
Kudos: 3





	1. Chapter 1

With a deep breath, Chloe glared at the burning red sun, then at the center of the square, where people were lining up and positioning themselves. “We better go,” she said, her voice even as she looked from Clark to Lois and held out a hand to her cousin, “can you stand?”

Lois reached out and took her cousin’s offered hand, wincing a little as she rose to her feet slowly. “Yeah.”

“Easy,” She frowned, stepping closer, “wrap your arm around me.” 

“I can help,” Clark offered. 

Chloe looked over at him and shook her head, “you need to make it to your side, Clark.”

“I’m okay,” Lois told him quietly, looking toward the crowd ahead even as she wound her arm around Chloe’s shoulders for support. “We’ll see you after.” 

Clark hesitated then nodded, “good luck.” He told the two of them, before reluctantly walking to the growing line of men. 

“Keep your foot off the ground, Lo,” Chloe whispered, focusing on her cousin, “you don’t wanna open that cut again.”

She glanced sideways at Chloe and let out a slow breath, nodding. “I’ll do my best.” She bit her lower lip, walking unsteadily beside her cousin to the line of women in front of the large stage that had been erected in the center of the district’s little square.

Chloe kept a firm grip on her cousin as they slowly moved up the line, her stomach tight. She just wanted this over with so she and Clark could take Lois back home and she could make sure she wouldn’t move again until all the wounds she was now spotting thanks to one of the so called peacekeepers healed properly. She didn’t know what was going to happen if she got any weaker.

“Welcome to District 12’s Reaping Ceremony!” An all-too-excited announcer said on stage, smiling brightly at the sullen crowd. 

Her stomach turned at the words and Chloe shook her head a little, “get it over with.” She muttered it under her breath, glaring at the Kandorians standing behind the woman. The humans who worked with them were worse than the Kandorians themselves.

“I love how they act like it’s something to actually celebrate,” Lois muttered, her jaw tight. 

“It is, for them.” She whispered. “Remind us how they’ve won.”

“Yeah, well as soon as I’m well again, we’re going to start discussing that thing we had planned,” she said in a hushed voice.

“Lois.” Chloe frowned, “stop.” Especially there with so many of them around.

She glanced at her sideways, closing her mouth and forcing herself to pay attention. 

“Let’s begin. We’ll draw a girl’s name first!” the woman on stage said enthusiastically. 

With a deep breath, Chloe shifted slightly to keep her cousin’s weight better then focused on the woman standing on the stage again.

“And our lucky winner is...one Lois Lane!” 

Lois felt all the air leave her lungs as she stared up at the stage for a moment.

Chloe’s stomach dropped and she froze completely, “no.” She said as she felt her cousin starting to move away, “no,” she repeated, this time at Lois before turning to the stage again, “I volunteer!” She yelled a second later before she was even fully aware what was happening. In her state, Lois wouldn’t make five minutes in that place.

“No!” Lois whipped around with a horrified expression. “Hell no!” 

“You can’t go, not like this.” Chloe told her, her jaw setting as she slowly pulled her cousin’s arm from around her. 

“Oh a volunteer! How exciting!” The woman announced on stage.

“I am not letting you take my place in this death trap,” Lois whispered fiercely, grabbing her arm. There were hushed whispers all around them, but she ignored them completely, focusing solely on Chloe. “You don’t have any training at all!” 

When one of the human peacekeepers grabbed her other arm and started to drag her away from her cousin, Chloe didn’t fight it, “I’ll figure it out,” she promise, “I’m not hurt.”

“No! Let her _go!_ Take me instead!” Lois cried, tears springing to her eyes as they pulled her cousin away from her faster than she could move to keep up. 

Chloe watched as Clark made his way over to Lois just in time to catch her before she lost her balance. She held his gaze for just a second, then turned toward the stage, freeing her arm and starting up the stairs automatically, her head spinning.

“Well. We have our first tribute, and she’s a volunteer to boot! Let’s have a round of applause for...” The woman paused, raising her eyebrows as Chloe made it up on stage. “What’s your name?” she whispered.

“Chloe Sullivan.” She said blankly as one of the people on stage positioned her to the left of the woman.

“A round of applause for Chloe Sullivan!” The woman beamed brightly, not seeming to be bothered by the only faint applause from the crowd. 

Chloe wasn’t paying attention to the crowd, she was watching as Clark kept his hold on Lois and pulled her further back but remained in the roped area. She had no idea what she was doing, but at least she could run and hide. Lois could barely walk right now and Chloe wasn’t even sure she could make the trip to the capitol at this point.

“Let’s draw our male tribute!” The woman started to reach into the bin to draw a name. 

“I volunteer.” The voice was quiet, but loud enough to be heard considering how silent the crowd had gotten, aside from Lois crying in the back. 

Blinking, Chloe looked away from her cousin and to the men, she hadn’t heard a name, just the volunteer, so she frowned as she tried to figure out who would be that stupid. At least she was doing it to protect her cousin.

“Who said that?” the woman asked, also looking around in a frantic attempt to spot the speaker. 

The man stepped forward, pushing back the green hoodie off his head and looking up at them. “I did.” 

Even though she was trying to keep her face impartial, Chloe couldn’t stop the quiet gasp when she realized who it was. Oliver Queen, former Green Arrow. Someone who she hadn’t seen in years, since way before this all happened. But apparently, he had been around, watching and keeping his distance. 

Her jaw clenched, until the perfect opportunity for him to get rid of her came, anyway. Because this was the only logical explanation why he would willingly volunteer after she had, after all this time. She didn’t have a chance against him, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t going to put up one hell of a fight.

He took the steps two at a time until he was standing on the stage next to her, expression schooled in neutrality as he looked out at the crowd. He spotted Lois and Clark near the back, both looking stunned, and he wasn’t sure if it was because they were shocked to see him, or if they were shocked to see him _volunteer_. He glanced sideways at Chloe for a second, and when she didn’t look at him, his faced forward once more. “I’m Oliver Queen,” he told the woman, who looked as stunned as Clark and Lois. Obviously she already _knew_ who he was. 

“Well. This is...we have two very brave volunteers as our tributes this year! Everyone, let’s show them some love!” the woman stammered, eyes still wide.

Chloe tensed when no one moved or applauded, just stared at them for a long moment. When a couple of people started going back to meet their friends and families, she finally glanced at the woman. At least Lois would be safe for another year, from this anyway, she hoped Clark could keep her that way.

“You’ll have an hour with your families...” The woman paused for a moment, grimacing at her word choice as she glanced at Oliver. “Or friends. And then we’ll be on our way!” 

As they were lead into the building behind the stage, Chloe took a deep breath and tried to focus on what to say to Lois and Clark when she saw them again, and not at how quickly Oliver was going to kill her.

“See you soon,” Oliver muttered, following the woman into the building, not waiting for Lois and Clark to arrive.

Chloe paused when she heard Lois’ voice, her face fell but she took a deep breath and turned toward the door once more.

“Why did you _do_ that?” Lois demanded, her eyes red-rimmed. 

“You can barely walk, Lois.” She whispered to her, shaking her head, “you know what you need to do. You get better, then you and Clark will work together.”

“This isn’t how it’s supposed to be. This isn’t _right_.” Her voice was thick with emotion.

“None of it is,” she agreed, holding her gaze, “but I don’t want you to worry about me, you just focus.”

Lois looked up at Clark tearfully, as if there was something he could say or do that would talk some sense into Chloe. 

“Be careful,” Clark said quietly to Chloe, glancing down the hallway where Oliver had gone. 

Chloe held her breath and nodded, “I will be, make sure she heals.” She said to him, glancing at Lois again.

“I will,” he promised, wrapping his arms around Lois, and swallowing hard. “Chloe, I’m sorry.” 

Her eyes teared up slightly and she managed the hint of a smile as she nodded, stepping forward and wrapping her arms half around her cousin and half around Clark. “I love you.” She whispered to both of them. It was easier than saying goodbye.

“We love you, too,” Lois whispered, voice cracking as she hugged her back tightly. 

Chloe pressed a kiss to Lois’ cheek and nodded, “take care of yourself, okay?”

“You’re going to make it through this.” She forced herself to take a deep breath, pulling away to look at her. “You’re going to do what you have to do out there, and then you’re gonna come home. Got it?” 

“Lois.” Chloe paused, looking up at her. There was no point letting her cousin fool herself like that.

Her eyes narrowed. “I’m not kidding,” she said evenly. “You’re smart. You’re the smartest person I know. So use it.” 

“I will do what I can.” she promised, it was all she could promise.

“I’ll see you soon. I love you.” She glared as one of the guards opened the door. “We’re supposed to have an _hour!_ ” 

“Time is up,” the man glared at Clark. “Get moving.” 

“Lois,” Chloe said, reaching for her cousin’s hand, “head down.” It was the only way she was going to remain alive long enough to execute their plan.

Lois squeezed her hand tightly for a moment, a tear trickling down her cheek. “We’ll see you soon,” she said again, letting Clark pull her away. 

Although she tried to say the words back to Lois, Chloe just couldn’t bring herself to. She had promised she’d do her best, but she couldn’t lie to her. 

* * * 

Oliver sat alone in the small room, back resting against the sofa, his elbows resting on his knees as he stared down at his hands silently. He heard footsteps approaching and his eyebrows furrowed a little before he looked up, pausing as he saw Clark Kent standing in the doorway.

Clark stepped in as the guards closed the door behind him, his jaw tense, “where were you?”

He wasn’t surprised by the accusatory tone, considering the last time he’d spoken to Clark, the other man had informed Oliver he was no longer one of them. “Around,” he responded vaguely, not standing up.

“All this time?” He frowned, “we would have seen you.”

“Were you _looking_?” 

“No.” He said, “but if you had been in the district, I would have seen you.” He stepped closer to him, “why did you show up now?”

“It’s a big district, Clark,” he said evenly.

“Not that big.” He pressed, “was your name even in there?”

“Does it matter?” He raised his eyebrows.

“It matters to Lois.” He said, eyes narrowing. 

Oliver pursed his lips at that, shrugging.

“If Chloe has any chance at getting back,” he said, stepping forward, “you better stay away from her.”

He narrowed his eyes a little at Clark, slowly rising to his feet, but not saying anything.

Clark’s eyes narrowed at him for a moment, then he turned around and made his way back to the door.

“Only one of us can make it through this alive,” Oliver said, his voice flat.

Turning around once more, Clark stared at him, “and it better not be _you_.” He said sharply. 

A smirk tugged at his mouth, but he remained silent once more, arching his eyebrows.

Clark glared at him and shook his head. “you won’t stay alive long if you come back.” He promised before heading out the door. 

Oliver watched him go, but didn’t respond, his jaw tight.


	2. Chapter 2

The monotonous clacking of the train on the tracks had lulled him into a trance-like state in just under a half-hour. He stared blankly out the window, his head resting against the cool glass pane until he heard voices talking a few feet away. He recognized one as the woman that had done the drawing of names in District 12--Cat something or other. He couldn’t help but roll his eyes at her ridiculously high-pitched voice every time she talked. 

“Oliver!” She gasped as she made her way down the hallway, “we were just looking for you, dinner is ready!” 

He glanced up at her, raising his eyebrows a little. “Great.” He rose to his feet, towering over her by at least a foot.

“Come one, this way!” She smiled at him brightly, “you must be so excited to get to the Capitol!”

Chloe was just a couple of steps behind and she couldn’t stop herself from rolling her eyes every time the woman talked too. She was almost sure she was human, which made it even worse. 

“I can hardly wait,” he said flatly, following her.

“How much longer do we have?” Chloe asked even though Cat Grant was obviously not interested in letting her join in the conversation. 

Oliver hadn’t even realized she was right behind him until she spoke, and when she did, he turned and glanced at her. 

“Oh, we’ll be there late tomorrow,” Cat said with a shrug as she led them to a rather elaborately decorated table that was adorned with the largest spread of food that Oliver had seen in a very long time. 

His eyes widened a little as he took in all the plates of fruits, vegetables, different meats and breads and cheeses, and various desserts. 

Chloe’s own eyes widened and she nearly bumped right into Cat and Oliver as they got into the room. She was starving and seeing all that food around literally caused her mouth to water.

Cat beamed at them and took a seat at the table. “Well, _sit_ ,” she said with a giggle. “Enjoy.” 

After considering both of the available seats, Chloe realized she had no choice but to seat next to Oliver, so she took the one furthest away from Cat and sat down next to a man she knew was named Carter Hall. She didn’t know him personally, but everyone knew of him since he had been the last survivor of the first one of these stupid games the Kandorians had implemented. He was a legend. But that didn’t mean he was pleasant. 

Which left Oliver no choice but to sit between Chloe and Cat. Great. He drew in a breath and sat down, still staring at the spread of food for a long moment before reaching out and picking up a plate, setting it in front of Chloe without thinking, and picking up a second one, that he kept for himself. 

She glanced over at him and frowned a little, but didn’t hesitate before making a plate to herself. Food was hard to come by nowadays. The Kandorians had taken all of it years ago, the only ways to come across it at this point were the black market, if you were lucky to have something to trade for food. The natural resources, which the Kandorians had either burned down or made it off limits. And the games. 

Oliver reached out and grabbed an apple from one of the plates, biting into it immediately and leaning back in his chair, closing his eyes as his stomach growled. It had been over a year and a half since he’d had an apple, and the fruit had always been one of his favorites. For a moment he was glad he’d volunteered simply for the chance to eat apples again.

Chloe went for the cheeses and breads, not bothering with small talk or even with looking at the other three by the table, she planned on getting as much food in her as she could, while she could. Because she knew once the games started, she’d go back to starving.

“You should probably slow down,” Carter said gruffly. 

She paused then looked over at him, “some of us don’t have an endless supply of food.”

He glared at her. “Fine. Gorge until you throw it all up then.” 

“I plan on it.” She glared back and took another bite of bread. 

He rolled his eyes and took a drink of beer, shaking his head a little. 

Oliver finished off his apple and reached for a piece of chicken, setting it on his plate and not bothering with silverware despite his years of training being around polite society. 

Chloe continued to eat for a long moment, then she turned to Carter once more, “what is our plan?” She asked not that she was planning on sharing any plans with Oliver since she was pretty sure she knew what _he_ was planning, but they still had the same trainer. 

“To train hard for the next week,” Carter responded evenly. 

“Put a lot of thought into that, didn’t you?” She asked, eyes narrowing. 

He didn’t answer, simply gazed back at her with cool neutrality. 

“You seem like you’re a barrel of fun,” Oliver commented, swallowing a bite of chicken and taking a drink of wine. 

“Why don’t we talk about something more pleasant?” Cat suggested, resting a hand on Oliver’s arm, “do you like the food?”

He pulled his arm away from her without hesitation. “It’s great.” 

“What do you want to talk about?” Chloe asked Cat even though the woman had barely acknowledged her the entire day, “maybe you can tell us what kind of disgusting things you did to get on the Kandorian’s good side and turn your back on what is left of your people?” She suggested. 

Well, that brought the conversation to a screeching halt. Everyone fell silent, and Carter’s gaze dropped to his plate. Oliver glanced at her sideways, raising his eyebrows a little, not entirely surprised by her question, but still not sure what to say. 

Cat, on the other hand, narrowed her eyes at Chloe, glaring at her. “We’re not here to discuss _my_ life,” she snapped. 

“Would you rather talk about all the inventive ways we could die in the arena, then?” She asked, not backing down. Why should she? The woman was treating the whole thing like an entertainment event, like the Kandorians did. 

“Only one of you _has_ to die,” Cat said flippantly, glancing at Oliver.

He stared at her in stony silence, chest tightening a little at the words he was fairly certain she wasn’t supposed to actually say aloud even if everyone on the train already knew the reality of the situation. 

“And you have picked your victor,” Chloe smirked a little then glanced over at Oliver and picked up another piece of cheese. 

Oliver’s jaw tightened a little and he narrowed his eyes at Cat. “I think I’ll take the rest of my dinner to my room.” He rose to his feet, picking up his plate of food, and heading away without looking back.

Chloe watched him pulling some fruit to her plate and going back to her food when the other two remained quiet. 

“Well, that was just unnecessary,” Cat declared, rising to her feet, huffing. 

This time, Chloe remained quiet, she figured ignoring the woman would irritate her even more.

Scowling, Cat stomped away to her room, leaving Chloe alone with Carter, who watched her for a long moment, sipping his beer and popping a grape into his mouth.

Chloe finally reached for the wine and poured herself a glass. 

“Do you have any fighting skills at all, or are you starting from scratch?” he asked, tilting his head.

“Basic fighting skills.” She told him, picking up an apple. There was no point in lying. 

He considered that for a few moments as she ate the apple. “It’s my job to try and keep you alive. And I take that very seriously.” His voice was quiet, but gruff as he leaned forward. “I’m gonna make you work your ass off.” 

“We both know there is no point to it.” She told him, glancing at him as she took a bite.

“That’s bullshit,” he said easily. “You’re not dying on my watch.” 

“You’ve obviously never seen him fight.” She told him calmly. Even if she made it to the top two, she would never be able to take Oliver down. 

“You might be surprised what I’ve seen.” 

“Ditto.” She told him, arching her eyebrows.

“I don’t know about that.” He leaned forward a little more. “ _Watchtower._ ” 

Chloe tensed completely, her jaw clenching as she stared at him. No one had called her that in a very long time and if she wasn’t impressed with the guy before, she disliked him even more now.

“Keep that anger and hate alive. That’s what will help you survive this,” he informed her, rising to his feet. 

She kept her eyes on him, finally leaving the food aside, her stomach tight. She had no idea how he knew about her, and she had no doubt he must know about Oliver too. While their names didn’t mean much more to them, it still did to Zod. And if he connected the dots, she might not even make it to the arena and Lois and Clark would never be able to complete their plan. 

* * * 

It was late. He wasn’t sure what time it was as he crawled from his bed on the train, urged on by his bladder. He was on his way back to bed when a shorter figure blocked his path in the hall. He blinked sleepily a few times, pausing as he realized it was Chloe. 

She gasped when she heard steps and turned, stilling when she saw it was him, but not moving. They hadn’t exchanged a single word yet, she wasn’t going to change that.

“Sorry. I didn’t see you there,” he admitted, voice hushed as he stepped aside to let her past him.

“Me neither.” She said, looking at him for a moment longer then stepping forward.

He watched as she moved past him, hesitating a moment. “What you did. Taking Lois’s place.” He pursed his lips. 

Chloe stilled one more, lifting her head to look at him, “was what had to be done.”

“If the situation had been reversed, she’d have done the same.” There was no doubt in his voice. He turned to head back to his room once more.

"And I wouldn't have wanted her to.” She told him.

“She didn’t want you to, either,” he answered.

“She has a reason to stay.”

“You mean Clark.” It wasn’t a question. He slowly turned to face her once again.

She didn’t answer, but she turned around too, her eyes narrowing in the darkness, “why did you do it?”

“I _didn’t_ have a reason to stay,” he said simply.

After staring at him for a moment, she nodded slightly then turned back around and started toward the place where they’d had dinner earlier.

“Late night snack?” There was a hint of curiosity in his voice.

“Yes,” she said without stopping.

“Would you mind company?” 

She frowned at that but shrugged, “suit yourself.”

Oliver watched her retreating figure for a moment, then slowly followed her down the hall and into the dining car. He wasn’t surprised to see that most of the spoilable food had been removed, but the basket of fruit and some of the non-perishable desserts and breads remained. He reached out and grabbed an apple as he sat down silently. 

Chloe looked around for a moment then picked up a mini-pie and poured herself a mug of the coffee that was surprisingly hot still. She didn’t care if it was hot or not, honestly, she hadn’t had coffee in about three years now, she would drink it at whatever temperature.

He watched her in silence as he chewed the fruit in his hand, then swallowed, leaning back. “I’m gonna teach you how to shoot.” His voice was almost inaudible it was so quiet.

She frowned, turning to look at him, “why?”

“Because unless you’ve learned over the last couple years, you don’t know how. And according to Carter, there’s usually a bow.” 

“ _A_ bow.” She said, looking over at her, “yours.”

He shook his head. “I know how to make my own,” he responded.

“You realize we’re opponents in this.” She said, even if she obviously knew the answer.

“We were friends once, too,” he answered, looking down at his hands.

“Now is not the time to try and go back to that.” She pointed out, “or do I need to remind you we’re supposed to kill each other?”

“No, you don’t need to remind me.” He pursed his lips, glancing up at her again. 

“Good,” she said, walking over to the windowsill and sitting down, “better if we don’t pretend otherwise.”

“So you’re refusing the lessons?” 

She didn’t answer, just stared out of the window. She knew she didn’t have any chance in this, he was going to win, if he didn’t she would be very surprised. Not that she was going to live to see that, but anyway, she knew if she got there and got killed in the bloodbath that always happened on the very first day, it was going to be a lot harder on Lois, than if she at least tried. And between Carter and Oliver, maybe she could make it a while longer. 

“No.” She said finally, “I’m refusing any attempt at partnership.”

“I wasn’t attempting that,” he told her, watching her as she stared out the window. His chest was tight, but he forced himself to take a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I’ll show you how to make your own arrows, too.” 

“Okay,” she said simply, placing her feet over the cushion and turning a little more toward the darkness outside as she sipped on her coffee.

He rubbed a hand over his face. “All right.” He rose to his feet and turned to head away from the dining car, away from her, away from the reality of their situation, even if it was only for a few hours.

Chloe turned her head to watch him then took a deep breath and leaned her face against the cool glass of the window. She only hoped it didn’t come down to the two of them, because she knew she wasn’t going to be able to kill him if she had to.


	3. Chapter 3

  


She had managed to get a few hours of sleep after the effects of the coffee wore off. By the time Cat told her to get up, she took her time getting off the incredibly comfortable bed, showering and rewearing her clothes. She was already hungry again, or maybe just craving all of the amazing food, so she finally made her way back to the dining car. 

She wasn’t surprised the two of them were the first ones already there, so she took the same seat as the previous night, and began filling her plate in silence.

Oliver showed up a couple moments after she did, looking less rested as he sat down beside her wordlessly, taking a moment to just breathe in the scent of the food. He shut his eyes for a moment, then shook his head, reaching for a plate of his own. “Forgot how good breakfast could smell,” he mumbled.

“Yeah.” She whispered before she could stop herself as she poured herself more coffee.

A faint smile tugged at his mouth despite everything. “I see your coffee addiction has been rebooted.” 

“I don’t think you can call it addiction when I haven’t had it in three years.”

The smile slipped and he looked down at his plate. “I was just making conversation,” he admitted, picking up a strawberry and popping it into his mouth.

She glanced over at him and held her breath a little, but didn’t apologize, instead, she picked up a piece of pancake and ate it. She wished Lois was there just for the food.

Carter joined them a few moments later, pouring himself a healthy glass of coffee and taking a big gulp. “We’ll be arriving at the Capital in just a couple hours. Don’t talk to anyone unless they talk to you first. And be polite.” He gave Chloe a look. 

Rolling her eyes, she gave him a look and shook her head, “like it matters.”

“It does if you don’t want to be walking into the Games with broken bones,” he said meaningfully. 

She shrugged and went back to her food. She would train and keep her head down, but that was about all of it.

“Once we get to the hotel, we’ll have a strategy meeting and we’ll discuss how to present the two of you.” He considered them for a moment, leaning back in his chair. 

Oliver resisted the urge to roll his eyes. He popped another bite of strawberry into his mouth, remaining silent for the time being. 

“You will love the hotel!” Cat told Oliver, “you can see the whole Capitol from it. And you two will be on the very top floor!”

“I’ve always liked a room with a view,” he said, taking a drink of orange juice. 

“I’ll make sure you have the best one,” Cat told him. 

Chloe rolled her eyes and shook her head.

He glanced sideways at Chloe, reaching out and picking up the small container of coffee creamer, setting it down beside her wordlessly.

She paused and looked over at him, pursing her lips together for a moment then reaching for it, “thanks.” She said quietly as she poured some into her coffee.

He nodded a little, managing a small, quick smile before eating a piece of bacon and glancing over at Carter. “So what should we expect this week?” 

“You will be training during the day,” he said, “the introductions are in a few days.” 

“Ah, you mean we get to be paraded around by the Kandorians like lambs before the slaughter. Got it.” He took another drink of his juice.

Chloe actually smirked at that and nodded, “what else?”

Carter sighed, his jaw tightening. “We’ll be training all week. Intensely.” 

“When do we go into the Arena?” She asked, watching him closely.

“Friday night,” he informed her, voice serious. 

“Great.” She said, “plenty of time to eat then.” She reached for a slice of bacon. 

He sighed, rubbing his face with one hand. 

Oliver glanced at Chloe sideways, arching his eyebrows a little and then facing forward once more, eating another slice of bacon, as well. At least they were getting fed well.

* * *

It had taken quite a while to make it from the train station to the hotel. The people from the Capitol, mostly Kandorians and a few humans like Cat, were all wanting to take a closer look to the tributes. 

The drive back to the hotel had been quiet and as Chloe stared out the window she saw the damn towers that gave the Kandorians their abilities, right in the heart of the Capitol. Destroying it would be nearly impossible, unless someone gained access to supercomputers like the ones she used to have, then it could be done from miles away and in a safe distance from the aliens. 

But of course most, if not all computers outside the capitol had been burned down by now.

They were urged inside by Cat and Carter and when they got to the top floor, Chloe had to admit, the hotel looked amazing and she was looking forward to some comfort before the Arena, “so where are our rooms?” She asked Cat.

“Down the hall.” She handed Chloe a key and turned her attention to Oliver. “You’re right next to me.” Her voice was cheerful. 

_Fantastic_ , he thought, resisting the urge to roll his eyes as he took the key from her.

Chloe took the key and glanced over at Oliver, mildly amused at the look on his face, but she turned quickly and headed toward her room.

“Thanks,” he said to Cat, watching Chloe head away, and then slowly following her toward his own room.

She slowed down a little when she heard him coming and glanced at him, “when do you wanna start?”

“Tonight,” he said quietly, casting a sidelong glance at her.

She nodded, pursing her lips, “you know where I’ll be.”

He nodded, too, holding his breath as he gazed at her for a few seconds, then headed past her to his own room, sliding the key against the scanner and opening the door.

Chloe frowned a little at his expression then shrugged slightly and made her way into her room too. She immediately noticed it was on the opposite side of the hallway from Oliver’s, which meant he was facing the city and she was not. The large window in front of the bed confirmed this, but she didn’t care. Staring at the Capitol and the towers would probably only make her angrier anyway. 

Within forty-five minutes there was a knock on her door, and Carter leaned against the wall just outside. He was actually dressed in a suit, but no tie.

She was still wearing the dirty clothes from the District, even though she had taken another shower -- a hot, relaxing shower for a change -- as she opened the door. “I thought this was Cat’s job.”

“It is.” He glanced toward Oliver’s door and rolled his eyes before looking back at her. “We’re training in the morning. Early. Don’t let him keep you up too late.” 

Chloe blinked and shook her head, “what did you do, have me bugged?” She frowned.

A faint smirk tugged at his mouth and he raised his eyebrows a little before heading away. “I’ll see you at dinner.” 

“Jerk,” she muttered, glancing toward Oliver’s closed door too.

Cat stepped out of his room a moment later, looking unhappy for a moment, then pasting a bright smile on her face when she spotted Chloe. “Oh, good. I’ll help you get ready for dinner. There are clothes in your closet.” 

“Help me get ready?” She asked, looking down at her clothes, “I am ready.”

She actually chuckled. “Oh, no. No, no you’re not. Come on.” She ushered her into the room and shut the door behind her, moving over to the closet and opening it, revealing a closet full of designer clothing.

Arching her eyebrows, Chloe stared at the clothes for a moment, then shook her head, “why do I have to dress up just to have dinner with you guys?” She asked, mostly to be difficult. She was looking forward to wearing something clean.

Cat rolled her eyes. “Because the other tributes are going to be at dinner, too. This is the first time they’ll be seeing you in person! You need to make a good impression.” She began sifting through the closet, and then pulled out a dark pink gown, holding it up to Chloe but not letting it touch her dirty clothes. “Hmm.” 

“I’ll go with no,” Chloe said, staring as the pink dress. “Why are we having dinner with the other tributes? I thought we were supposed to keep to ourselves.”

“I didn’t say we were having dinner with them. But they’re going to be there, at the restaurant. You need to come off as confident and graceful.” She put the pink dress back, pulling out a red one next.

“Just paint me with a bullseye, won’t you?” She made a face at the red.

Cat rolled her eyes once more. “You need to stand out. People have to _want_ to root for you. Camouflage isn’t the way to go here.” 

Chloe glanced over at a gray dress then sighed softly, she knew that for once, the woman had a point, “red it is.” She said, taking the dress from her.

She smiled brightly. “Great. Get dressed and then I’ll fix your hair!” 

“Great,” Chloe groaned, staring at the woman then making her way to the bathroom to change.

An hour and a half later, a rattled looking Cat led the way down to dinner, still shaking her head a little in frustration after having spent the last couple hours with Chloe. 

Chloe wasn’t just frustrated, she was in pain. Shaving her legs and doing her eyebrows hadn’t exactly been her priority in the past three years. She felt much cleaner, but wearing heels again for the first time was quite painful, especially brand new shoes.

Oliver’s eyes widened just a little as he caught sight of her in her red dress, slowly rising to his feet alongside Carter, whom he’d been sitting with at the dinner table for the last twenty-five minutes waiting for Chloe and Cat to come down. 

Carter actually smiled at her, raising his eyebrows a little and pulling her chair out for her.

“Please,” Chloe muttered as she took her seat, Carter had made her uneasy with his Watchtower reference and the fact that he knew she and Oliver were practicing tonight. But having him be courteous made her even more uncomfortable, because it made him harder to figure out.

Carter suppressed a smirk as he sat down once more. “Well. You look beautiful,” he told her sincerely, leaning back in his chair and glancing at Oliver, who was still staring at her.

She glanced at Carter, then caught a glimpse of the look on Oliver’s face and turned to look at him, stilling when she realized he was _staring_ at her. She paused and reached for her napkin, looking down as she unfolded it on her lap, her face almost as bright as the dress.

Oliver swallowed hard, slowly taking his seat once more, directly across from her. His gaze was still on her even as he reached for his own napkin, doing the same as she’d just done. 

Cat glanced between them, arching her eyebrows a little. “Well, I’m starving.” She glanced around, looking for the waitress. 

Chloe reached for the water and sipped on it, then glanced at Oliver again, pursing her lips together and holding his gaze as she tried to figure out why he wouldn’t look away.

He cleared his throat and picked up his glass of water, finally dropping his gaze from her face and taking a long drink of the cold beverage. 

She shifted on her chair uncomfortably and reached for her hair, stilling when she felt the perfectly shaped curl Cat had done. She also hadn’t curled her hair in forever, in fact, it was longer than it had been since she was a kid, and straight.

Cat reached out and pulled her hand away from her hair, shooting her a warning look before lifting her hand to signal the blonde waitress who was standing on the other side of the room against the wall, hands behind her back. 

With a sigh, Chloe dropped her hand to the table and glared at Carter instantly, daring him to say anything. She then sat back against her chair, glancing around the room and then at the waitress as she approached them, and she stilled.

Oliver frowned a little, feeling like he’d missed something, but then caught sight of the look on Chloe’s face, looking up as the waitress approached. His eyes widened and he felt all the air leave his lungs as he realized he _knew_ the woman. 

Because the waitress was Dinah Lance.

Chloe glanced over at Oliver, sitting up as Dinah moved to their table, but didn’t look at them. She thought maybe she could be imagining things, but one look at Oliver and his expression proved she was not. “Dinah?” Chloe gasped quietly, staring at the woman.

Dinah didn’t speak, she simply pulled out a pad of paper, but the expression on her face was stricken. Like she was frightened. 

Carter had paled at the sight of her, as well, and he quickly looked at Chloe. He swallowed hard, picking up his glass, fingers tightening around it so hard that his knuckles turned as white as his face. “I think you’re mistaken. Her name is Sarah. See her tag.” His voice was kind. 

Oliver just stared open-mouthed for a moment, his heart beating hard against his chest. Her name tag _did_ say Sarah. But that didn’t make _any_ sense at all. Because there was no way that woman wasn’t Dinah. He glanced at Chloe, looking confused.

She stared at Carted for a moment, then back at Dinah, no doubt in her mind it was her, and then at Oliver, feeling less confused than he did, and much more worried. 

“I’ll just have tonight’s special,” Carter said, not looking up at the younger woman. 

“I’ll have the veal,” Cat said pleasantly. 

When Dinah glanced in her direction Chloe held her breath, but instead of speaking, she just stared. Mostly at the scars on the woman’s face.

Oliver actually winced when Carter kicked him hard in the leg. “I’ll have a salad and a steak with a baked potato.” He swallowed hard, not taking his eyes off Dinah. What the hell had happened to her? 

“ _Chloe_ ,” Cat frowned, patting her hand. 

“What?” She blinked, turning to look at the woman.

“Order?” She said, eyes narrowing.

“Oh,” Chloe glanced down at the menu, blinking a couple of times, “hm, the pasta.” She said, not sure what she was reading.

Oliver knew the feeling. He wasn’t even sure the restaurant _had_ steak and baked potatoes. He hadn’t even glanced at the menu. 

When Dinah turned away without a word, Chloe turned back to Oliver, her eyes wide with both confusion and fear.

He nodded ever-so-slightly, swallowing hard as he met her gaze and held it. 

Chloe turned to Carter and shook her head slightly, but didn’t say anything.

Carter didn’t say anything either, but there was a hint of fury in his eyes, his jaw tight with tension as he looked back at her. “I need to use the restroom. I’ll be right back.” He rose to his feet, setting his napkin on the table.

With a deep breath, Chloe turned to Cat, “how is the staff picked, do you know?”

She shrugged a little. “Not really,” she said, taking a drink of her water. 

Focusing on Oliver again, Chloe took a deep breath, suddenly no longer hungry. This could be really bad for them.


	4. Chapter 4

  


It was later that night when Oliver crossed the hallway to Chloe’s room, knocking very softly on the door, not wanting to risk anyone who shouldn’t be, overhearing. He was still wearing his suit from dinner, red tie around his neck, though he’d loosened it a bit. After dinner, he’d spent nearly two hours just pacing the floor of his room, trying to figure out a way to find and talk to Dinah alone. He’d even attempted to leave the floor, once, but he’d had to pretend he was getting ice when one of the Kandorian approached. 

Fortunately for him, the guy had bought it, even though he’d eyed him suspiciously. He’d gotten lucky. That was all. 

Chloe stood up and made her way over to the door, she thought it’d be him, so she opened it quietly, staring at him for a moment then stepping aside, unsure if he wanted to come in or not.

“Thanks,” he murmured, stepping inside her room and glancing around, pursing his lips and reaching up to rub the back of his neck. 

She closed the door and held her breath, “probably have ears everywhere,” she muttered.

He nodded slightly, turning to look at her silently, his chest tight. 

Sighing softly, she shook her head slightly and rubbed her hands over her face, she hadn’t even bothered changing, she was so freaked out about the fact that they, somehow, had Dinah.

Oliver was silent for a moment, and then he slowly moved around the room, examining things closely. He unscrewed the light bulb in the lamp in the corner and then put it back a moment later, shaking his head ever-so-slightly before moving on.

Chloe watched him for a moment then reached under her bed, checking for anything that could be a bug too, not that the kandorians themselves needed a bug to listen in, but they were mostly surrounded by humans.

Within a half an hour, they’d searched the entire room, and beads of sweat had broken out on his forehead. He loosened his tie a little more and shed the suit jacket, laying it on the chair in the corner. Then he let out a breath. “I think it’s clean,” he whispered, his voice very quiet. 

“No bugs,” she agreed then pointed to her ear.

He nodded a little, moving over to sit on the edge of her bed and looking up at her with worried eyes. 

Sighing softly, she shook her head and mouthed. “This is bad.”

“I know.” His voice, once more, barely a whisper. 

Chloe sat down next to him, “Do you think she talked?” She asked in a very quiet whisper.

“I don’t know.” He glanced at her sideways, hesitating a moment, and then making a writing motion with his hand, raising his eyebrows. He didn’t want to risk the Kandorians overhearing what he wanted to ask.

She shook her hands and held her hand up, she hadn’t seen a piece of paper around the hotel at all. 

He hesitated again, then leaned closer to her, cupping his hand over her ear. “Do you think they’ve found the others?” 

Chloe held her breath at the sudden, very unexpected feel of his warm breath against her ear and shivered lightly. It took her a second to understand the question, “maybe.” She hadn’t seen anyone else from the team in a long time.

He rubbed a hand over his face tiredly. Given Dinah’s appearance, she definitely wasn’t there voluntarily. 

She pursed her lips together, wondering if it would be safe to tell him that Carter knew about Watchtower.

“We should get started on training,” he said quietly. 

“Yeah,” she agreed in a whisper.

Oliver rose to his feet. “Be right back.” He offered her a tiny smile before heading for the door. 

“Where are you going?” She frowned, watching him.

“To get my bow.” He raised his eyebrows a little. 

“Oh,” she nodded, “where should we meet?”

“This is probably the safest,” he admitted.

“Okay.” She pursed her lips together. “I’ll wait here then.”

Oliver nodded and opened the door, heading across the hall and into his room once more, picking up the bow he’d managed to keep hidden in his luggage. He glanced around and then crossed the hall quickly, closing the door to Chloe’s room once more and locking it. 

Chloe had managed to change shoes but hadn’t bothered with the dress. It was comfortable enough and she didn’t want to risk changing and Oliver walking in on her. Which would have happened considering how quickly he got back. 

He held up the bow silently, raising his eyebrows a little.

She frowned a little and took the bow, “don’t we need a target?”

“We don’t really have one to work with right now. And we’re just gonna go over some basics tonight,” he told her.

“Okay.” She watched him for a moment then held the bow the way she had seen him doing it before, “what do I do?”

He moved to stand behind her, loosely looping his arms around her and showing her how to draw it back slowly. “We’ll start with practicing stance and positioning,” he murmured, swallowing hard. 

Chloe stilled for a second and glanced back at him, suddenly not so comfortable with this. But she knew she was gonna have to suck it up, for Lois’ sake.

He felt her tense and he paused, looking down at her and meeting her eyes. “I’m not gonna hurt you, Chloe.” 

Well not until they got to the Arena anyway. She nodded slightly, maybe it was better to pretend she didn’t think he’d kill her, so she’d at least be able to get as much out of his training as possible, “how do I stand?”

Oliver shifted a little. “Put your right foot a little more forward. Lean back just a bit on your left one.” He positioned her hands on the bow. 

She did as he told her to, holding her breath and putting her weight on her left foot, “like this?”

“Yeah, good. That’s good,” he said, nodding. 

Chloe nodded slightly and took a deep breath,” now what?”

“Now you slowly pull back, like this.” He positioned her hands on his bow, fingertips ghosting lightly over her skin. 

She straightened slightly and glanced up at him, then at his hand and held her breath.

“Try to keep your mind relaxed,” he murmured. “Listen to your own heart beating.” 

She nodded slightly, that might be easier in there, she guessed it wouldn’t be easy to relax in the Games.

“That moment between beats.” He drew in a breath, surprised at how relaxed _he_ felt right then. “That’s when you let go of the arrow.” 

She let out a breath she didn’t realize she’d been holding, she was trying to concentrate on the bow, but his closeness, his touches and the whispered words were making that incredibly hard to accomplish.

Oliver swallowed hard, reluctantly backing away from her. “Now you try it.” Granted, there was no arrow to practice with right then--that would be far too dangerous to risk.

Chloe took a deep breath and shifted, glancing back at him then switching her feet around before going back to the position he showed her and pulling back the string.

“Good.” He nodded a little, pursing his lips. “Do you know how to climb a tree?” 

“Depends on the tree,” she said, lowering the bow, “why?”

“If the arena has trees and they’re climbable, stick to them.” His voice was quiet. And if not, try to find foliage to hide amongst. And when you’re presented with a shot.” He nodded toward the bow. “Take it.” 

She sighed softly and set the bow down, “why are you helping me like this?”

“I’m not trying to rekindle our friendship, if that’s what you’re asking.” He pursed his lips.

“I didn’t think you were.” She said, looking down then back at him, “but the shot I could be presented with, could be you.”

Oliver nodded ever-so-slightly. “I know,” he admitted. “And if that opportunity happens, I expect you to take it.” 

“You’re still handing me the weapons to kill you, literally,” she pressed, “why?”

“Because I’d rather see you win than someone else,” he said with a shrug.

“We both know you could easily win this.” She pointed out. “Even if there are meta people in there, they can’t use their powers.”

“That doesn’t mean there aren’t people who’ve been training day in and day out. And I haven’t been...” He dropped his voice. “Green Arrow in a very long time.” 

Her eyes widened when he said the name and she walked over to him, shaking her head and mouthing ‘Zod’.

“I know.” He shrugged ever-so-slightly. 

“Carter knows.” She said finally, “somehow.”

He looked down for a moment, then nodded. “I know.” 

“You do?” She frowned, “do you know how?”

“I have an idea.” He moved closer to her once more, cupping his hand over her ear once more. “He had his own secret club. When he was younger.” 

“He did?” She gasped, turning to look at him, “did he tell you about it?”

“Very little,” he said quietly, letting out a breath. 

“Oh.” She nodded, looking down, “I guess I shouldn’t be surprised he likes you better.”

A short, humorless chuckle escaped him. “Don’t be so sure about that.” 

“I’m not the one he’s sharing secrets with.” She pointed out, “but I guess it doesn’t matter.”

Oliver shook his head a little. “He let you know he knew who you were,” he responded. “For him, that’s a big step, believe it or not.” 

She frowned at the way he worded that, “did you know him? Before?” She asked.

He hesitated a moment. “Only in passing.” 

Her eyes narrowed at that, “how?”

“I met him in the district. Before the reaping.” He shrugged a little.

“Yeah, speaking of that,” her eyes narrowed and she cocked her head, watching him, “how come I never saw you before the reaping?”

Oliver shifted uncomfortably, diverting his gaze and shrugging again. “I kept my head down.” 

It didn’t take a genius to know he was lying. There was no way she wouldn’t have seen him if he had been around. What she didn’t understand was why he decided to show up when he did. And volunteer.

“Anyway. Back to the training.” He nodded toward the bow once more.

“Right,” she said, picking up the bow again. “What next?”

He drew in a breath, wishing he had more time than he did to properly train her. But they’d have to work with the time they had. 

They had no other choice.

* * *

Despite the miserable day she had had with Carter in training, around 6 Cat came into her room to help her get ready again, only this time, it wasn’t for dinner. 

Tonight could decide whether or not she was going to live or die if she got herself hurt or out of food in the Arena. Assuming she didn’t get killed in the very beginning, because tonight was the official introduction of the Tributes to the public and amongst them were the sponsors. 

The sponsors could pay to send tributes medicine, food or whatever item they needed during the Games. They usually did this because they had money on that particular person, not because they actually cared. 

So Cat had put her in another dress, this time a deep green one, that the other woman had decided made her look more alive, like the trees that surrounded District 12. Chloe rolled her eyes more times than she could count, but didn’t fight Cat as she got her ready. There was no point in doing so and she knew it. She just wanted to get it over with and get to bed, her body sore from all of the training and her mood very much sour from the insults.

When they made it out to the main room of the hotel suite, Oliver and Carter were already there and the fact that they abruptly stopped talking, then whispered something to one another before growing silent didn’t go unnoticed by her. Obviously she wasn’t in on their secrets.

Oliver’s suit was black, his tie the exact shade of green as her dress, and when he caught sight of her, his eyes widened a little. He’d never seen her in so much green before and as much as he was fond of the color, he wasn’t sure he’d ever been as fond of it as much as he was right then, seeing Chloe swathed in it. Her hair was curled and fell lightly to her shoulders, making her look beautiful and elegant. “Wow,” he whispered. 

She blinked at the way he was staring at her. _Again_. And rolled her eyes once more at his expression, if he thought playing the compliment card on her was going to make her ignore the fact he and Carter were plotting behind her back, he should really know better. 

“Aren’t we supposed to be going somewhere?” She asked when none of them moved.

Oliver drew in a breath, nodding a little and glancing at Carter. “We should probably get going, right?” 

Cat glanced between them, smiling at Oliver. “You look incredible!” 

“Let’s go,” Carter nodded smirking a little and heading for the door. 

Chloe followed, brushing past Oliver just as Cat took his arm.

He grimaced a little when the other blonde took his arm, and he watched Chloe follow Carter out the door. He had a feeling it was going to be a very long night.


	5. Chapter 5

  
  


The elevator ride down to the main level had been quiet, Chloe was sure she was going to be nervous if she wasn’t so irritated with Carter and now Oliver. 

As it was, she just made her way out of the elevator and followed them down the a long hallway and if the colder wind ahead was anything to go by, it let outside. She took a deep breath and made her way out the door with the others, not surprised to see the other Tributes already there. They were supposed to be the last ones in according to Cat, which meant they were gonna be there for a while. 

“All right. This is it. This is your introduction to the world.” Carter turned to look at them, expression tense. “I want you to go in holding hands.” 

Chloe stilled at that and turned to look at him, frowning, “what? _Why_?” 

“Because it will throw everyone off guard and give the two of you an advantage,” Carter informed her. 

“How will it give us any advantage?” She demanded, staring at him. 

“Because everyone is expecting to be on their own out there. If you go out as a united front, you’re showing them another possibility.” 

Her eyes narrowed and she turned to look at Oliver, to try and figure out his reaction to all of this.

Oliver pursed his lips, drawing in a breath and glancing at Chloe and hesitating a moment. “It sorta makes sense.”

“How? The careers also will team up, we all know this.” She pointed out, staring at him.

“But not until the Games begin,” Carter said, giving her a look. “This will be unexpected. It’ll get other people’s attention.” 

“Yeah, attention on people like us sounds like a great idea,” she pointed out, giving Oliver a look.

He pursed his lips, considering her, then glancing at Carter. 

“I mean the attention of the viewers. The viewers we _need_ to be on your side,” he said meaningfully. 

“Fine.” Chloe said finally, “whatever, but it’s not going to work.”

“Maybe. Maybe not.” Carter gazed at her intently, arching his eyebrows. “We’ll see.” 

She rolled her eyes and shook her head, turning away from him and watching as the other tributes started making their way down the walk.

Oliver chewed the inside of his cheek for a moment, then silently held his hand out to her.

Chloe glanced over at him, her eyes narrowing once more. She had no doubt he was in on planning this, no doubt that she couldn’t trust him because whatever he and Carter were planning, it wasn’t to benefit her. 

With a glare, she took his hand then looked forward. Trying to decide if a better approach was to let them think she was going along, or refuse to collaborate at all.

He pursed his lips, squeezing her hand without really thinking about it or meaning to as they got closer to being walked out into the arena. 

Once they made it to the exit, Chloe’s eyes widened and she held her breath, overwhelmed by the amount of people there. Not all of them Kandorians, of course, their population wasn’t that big. No, some of them were slaves, she assumed and a lot of them were humans, playing along either because they were as sick as the Kandorians, or because they had to to keep their lives.

Oliver glanced at her sideways, holding his breath for a moment. “You ready for this?” he asked, voice barely audible. 

“No,” she muttered, then took a step forward.

“Yeah, me either,” he murmured, doing the same and pasting a smile onto his face, lifting his free hand in a wave to the crowd. 

She glanced over at him then put on her best smile and did the same.

The other tributes that had all gone out before them had gone out looking fierce and even bordering on scary. They wanted to intimidate the other tributes, no doubt. He understood why that was important, but he didn’t believe now was the time for it. Tonight was about winning over the audience. Fortunately, he had more than his fair share of experience in schmoozing people.

And knowing that was part of the reason why Chloe was following his lead. Maybe she could benefit some from his and Carter’s plan. Even if they didn’t expect her to.

The crowd roared with approval as the two of them greeted the audience by smiling and waving...and holding hands. He looked down at her, still smiling as he met her gaze. “I think they like us.” 

She hadn’t missed the reaction, but she had read it slightly different than he did, “they like _you_ ,” surely his name still meant something, especially for the humans.

“Us,” he said, shaking his head a little as he gazed at her intently, smile softening a little.

Chloe held her breath at the look on his face, blinking in surprise when she found herself believing him. Maybe, just maybe, he was right. And that was enough to give her a little more confidence and stand up straighter, smile a little more. 

His eyes brightened as she did, his smile widening once more. He let go of her hand and wound his arm around her waist, waving to the crowd once more. 

She stepped closer and wrapped her arm around his back too, mostly because she had no choice but partially because she nearly lost her balance. She leaned on him for just a second, then went back to waving as the crowd got louder.

His heart was beating hard in his chest and it took him a moment to realize that all of the other tributes were also now staring at them, surprise registering on their faces. 

As they made their way to the center stage with the other twenty-two tributes, Chloe realized that her hand was wrapped tightly around Oliver’s jacket and she was pressed up against his side, but one glance at the big screen told her the camera was still on them, so she pressed even closer and grinned even wider. If nothing else, they did look good and they looked convincing.

Oliver’s hand was resting firmly on her left hip as he kept her close to him, as well. Once they were on the stage in front of their chairs, he raised his free hand once more and waved at the audience, giving them his best charming smile and hoping like hell that Carter’s plan was really going to work. 

* * *

After some short introductions, they were lead to behind the stage, another stage that later rotated toward the audience, with them all on their seats, properly positioned. The Kandorians had been smart on mixing their Crystal based energy and the human technology on Earth, they seemed to be using both to complement each other in the best way possible. But of course, those were not good news for them. 

One by one, the tributes were being interviewed, and Chloe could tell the angle each of them were playing. Like the well rehearsed cliches they were. She herself hadn’t rehearsed. She didn’t have much to say, except for the fact that she was there for her cousin. So hopefully her few minutes would go by quickly.

Oliver reached out silently and squeezed Chloe’s hand right as they called his name. “Wish me luck,” he whispered, rising to his feet.

She looked up at him and pursed her lips together, “you don’t need any,” she said, watching him. She had seen him speak before, he was amazing. 

He smiled a little at that, winking at her and then heading up to meet the host that was doing the interviewing.

“Oliver Queen” the host said, extending his hand to him. “The first of two volunteers from District 12!” 

Oliver shook his hand, shaking it with a firm grip and smiling. 

“Welcome, welcome,” he said pleasantly and motioned to the chair next to his once the crowd wasn’t as loud anymore. 

He nodded. “Thank you.” He sat down in the seat next to the man’s, leaning back in it casually. 

“How are you feeling about being here?” He asked as he leaned back in his own chair, “it’s very clear how the audience feels about you being here.” He grinned.

He smiled a bit at that when the audience cheered, and he lifted his hand, waving at them once more, then turning his attention to the host again. “It’s a mixed emotions kind of situation,” he said honestly. “I’m worried because obviously there’s some intense competition...” He glanced back at the other tributes, nodding. “But I’m also hoping to gain a win for my district.” 

“And that would not be the first victory for District 12,” he announced, “but it would certainly be the best looking one!”

Oliver tilted his head a little, glancing back at Chloe. “Actually, I think Chloe has me beat in that arena.” He smiled.

Chloe arched her eyebrows and was about to roll her eyes but caught herself and smiled, shaking her head at him. 

“Well, I can’t argue with that one,” the host winked at Oliver, “have you formulated a plan  
for the Arena or are you still working on your strategy?”

He smiled at Chloe a moment longer before turning to the host again. “I’m still working on it,” he admitted with a slight shrug.

“Now, Oliver,” the host shifted to the edge of his seat, “you volunteered even before a name had been called for the male of your district, is that right?” He asked, his voice lower now. 

He shifted in his seat a little, nodding slightly and holding his breath. “Yeah, I did,” he agreed.

“Why did you decide to step forward?” He asked, the entire audience was completely silent by now.

Oliver hesitated a moment, and looked down. “Because I wanted to do something good. Something to help the citizens of my district,” he said, shrugging a little. It wasn’t really the truth, but it was as close as it was going to get right now.

There were awws and sighs coming from the audience and the host himself wiped his eye, “that is very noble of you,” he nodded, “I bet you are looking forward to making your way back and seeing the people you want to help.”

“If I make it back,” he agreed with a slight nod. “But like I said, obviously there’s some tough competition.” 

“Always, always,” he agreed, “but you have to have something to look forward to, don’t you? So Oliver, what would you do if you got back?”

He considered that for a moment. “Just whatever I can to keep helping people in District 12.” 

He nodded and watched Oliver for a moment, “and what about your beautiful competition from your district? You two seem to be close.”

His smile slipped and he looked down once more, falling silent for a long moment. The audience was completely still and silent, waiting to hear what he had to say. “We’ve been friends for a long time,” he admitted, chewing the inside of his cheek and glancing back at Chloe. 

“Really?” He cocked his head, “just friends?” He asked in a whisper that was loud enough to be picked up by the microphones. 

He drew in a breath, turning back to the host, and hesitating. “To be perfectly honest with you...” He smiled a bit. “And because I may not have another chance to say it...” His eyes were sad. “I’ve been in love with her for quite awhile now.” 

Chloe stilled completely and sat up, her eyes wide as she blinked and stared over at Oliver. She felt like she had just been punched in the stomach and she couldn’t breathe. But the shock was only temporary and even as she did her best to control her expression, she couldn’t stop herself from getting angry a moment later. What the hell was he doing?

The audience was loud now and the host was staring at Oliver with his hand covering his mouth, “oh, no.” He said quietly, then shook his head and looked at the audience, “what a terrible predicament this is.”

He tried to smile but couldn’t quite manage it, looking down at his hands and letting out a breath as he nodded in agreement, falling silent. The emotions he was feeling right then were real. He just had to let everyone see them. 

“I can’t believe how hard that must be for you,” he said, patting Oliver’s arm, “and unfortunately, our time is up. But I wish you the best of luck.”

“Thank you,” he said quietly, rising to his feet slowly. 

Chloe stared up at Oliver, she knew her hands were shaking, so she was holding them together on her lap. 

He gazed at her for a moment before slowly sitting down beside her once more, his chest tight. 

She blinked and looked away, taking a deep breath as her name was called, then standing up. If he was waiting for the last possible second to throw that at her so she was completely off her game by the time her interview came, it had worked. She barely noticed she was moving until she was standing in the very center of the stage. 

“Chloe, you look beautiful,” he host commented with a big smile. “Doesn’t she, ladies and gentlemen?” 

The crowd roared its approval. 

She managed a smile and looked down, nodding, “thank you,” she said, “Cat has been amazing with the makeover.” She told him, knowing she was going to have to be incredibly pleasant if she was going to have any chance in being remembered after Oliver’s performance. 

From the audience, Cat waved and beamed at her, looking pleased with the compliment. 

“Well, I doubt it was too much trouble,” the host said pleasantly, motioning for her to sit. 

She sat down but didn’t lean back, taking a deep breath as she smiled over at him, then waited. 

“Tell me how you’re feeling right now,” he said, leaning forward in his chair and watching her closely.

Chloe looked at him for a moment, hesitating, “overwhelmed.” She admitted, throwing a glance toward Oliver and trying not to think about how much she wanted to kill him. 

“I’m sure,” he agreed. “So you had no idea that Oliver’s in love with you?” He cocked his head to the side. 

She shook her head slightly, “not at all,” she admitted and at least she could be honest about that, “and I thought I was good at reading people,” she smiled. 

The host smiled at her softly. “Can you tell us why you volunteered as tribute? Wasn’t another woman’s name called?” 

“Yeah,” she nodded slightly, her smile slipping, “my cousin was initially called.” She admitted. 

There were soft gasps from various members of the audience. 

“Your cousin was initially called and you volunteered to take her place. Wow.” He shook his head a little, his eyes wide. 

Chloe nodded a little, “she always took care of me, so, I wanted to do something for her.” She smiled slightly.

“We have some very inspiring tributes this year from District 12,” he commented, glancing toward the audience with a small smile. “And how do you feel about being part of the games alongside a friend?” 

“I wish things were different,” she said, her voice quiet, “it’s not easy.”

“I’m sure it’s not,” he agreed quietly. “How are you feeling about that confession he just made?” He raised his eyebrows a little. 

She paused at that and pursed her lips together, “I wish he had told me before,” she told him, putting on her best sad face, “when we had more time.” 

The host’s eyes watered and he looked back at the audience, many of whom were wiping away tears of their own. “This is incredibly heartbreaking.” 

All she wanted to do was snort and roll her eyes, they thought some guy being in love was heart breaking but the brutal deaths of 23 people for their entertainment was perfectly acceptable, apparently. Still, she lowered her head and nodded a little, swallowing her anger for the time being. 

“Well, we wish you the best of luck, Chloe.” He smiled, but it was a sad kind of smile, like pitying someone who was going off to war. Which she basically was, just on a smaller battleground. 

“Thank you,” she said, giving him a small smile then waving at the audience as she stood up.

The audience cheered loudly as she walked back to her seat--much more loudly than they had cheered for the others, except for Oliver. 

Chloe glanced over at Oliver as she sat down, but kept her expression passive as she turned to face the audience again, listening as the host started to wrap up the show. She was going to have plenty of time to let Oliver know exactly how she felt about this, when the cameras were off.


	6. Chapter 6

  


Oliver was nervous as he and Chloe took the elevator up to the floor where their rooms were. Chloe hadn’t said a single word to him since the interviews had ended. She hadn’t even _looked_ at him. And he knew her well enough to know that wasn’t good. Holding his breath as the elevator doors slid open, he motioned for her to go first. 

She stepped out, glad that Carter and Cat seemed to have stayed behind to start working on Sponsors. As soon as the elevators closed, she turned to look at Oliver, “what the _hell_ do you think you’re doing?”

Yep, definitely not good. “Making us memorable?” There was a hint of uncertainty in his tone.

“Making _yourself_ memorable, using me to make yourself look better!” She told him, “and forcing me to play along with your bullshit!”

He stared at her for a moment. “In case you didn’t notice, the audience _loved_ you!” 

“They loved your little story!” She told him, “the second they have to pick between one of us, it’s gonna be you!”

“That’s the thing, Chloe. _They_ don’t get to pick, period! They’re not going to be out there. The most they can do is send us shit that we might need.” He shook his head, walking away from her. “You’re _welcome_.” 

She glared back at him, her eyes narrowing, “you made us the biggest target!” She called. She knew they would be expected to team up now, and if that made them look stronger, they would be the first ones the others would wanna take out.

“Does it really matter _when_ we’re targeted?” He turned to face her even though he was halfway down the hall. “We’re going to be targets regardless. That’s what this is all about!” 

“Maybe it doesn’t matter to you!” She yelled after him, “I actually care about how Lois feels when she watches me die!”

His chest tightened at that, and he shook his head. “You really have no idea what you’re talking about,” he said shortly, turning and using his key to unlock the door to his room.

“Neither do you.” She said, heading to her own room, even though she wished she could be outside instead. Get away from this and from him, even if it was just for the night. But there was no escaping anymore.

* * * 

“Remember what I said. When you get in there, get the hell out of sight as fast as you can,” Carter said quietly to her. “Don’t go for the pile of weapons. You’ll get killed immediately if you do.” 

She took a deep breath and nodded slightly, far too nervous to be a smartass about this.

“You’ve got a lot more fighting skills and abilities than I thought you would.” His voice grew more quiet. “Don’t be afraid to use them when that time comes.” 

She stared up at him, her expression blank and nodded again.

“I’m gonna get as many sponsors for you as I can,” he told her. “You’re already a fan favorite according to polls. You’re gonna get through this.” 

“You should go talk to Oliver.” She said finally, not really wanting to talk.

“Just focus on doing what you have to do to get back to your cousin,” he advised, hesitating and then gently patting her shoulder before heading over to where Oliver stood several feet away, his expression blank.

Her face fell a little at that and she glanced after Carter then took a deep breath. She had been trying really hard to accept the fact that she wasn’t going back, that she wasn’t coming out of that arena alive. Realistically, there was no way she could actually win, not with her basic fighting skills, not even with the short training Oliver had given her before they stopped talking. But it was hard to accept. 

Maybe it was because she knew she could have died for something worthy, like destroying the towers, but now she was going to die for their entertainment and it made her sick. 

* * *

She had no clue how much time had passed since Carter had talked to her, minutes or hours. It felt like a second and an eternity at the same time as the elevator-like tubes lifted them into the arena. Her heart was beating fast and her eyes were burning with the sudden sunlight, it took her a few minutes before she could see their surroundings.

They were in a clearing, surrounded by forest on all four sides, the weapons sat in the very center along with the food and backpacks were spread out around them. With a deep breath, she looked around, locating Oliver on a platform a couple of people down from her.

Oliver cast a glance at Chloe for the briefest of moments before making a dead run for the bow and quiver of arrows, just beating another guy, a little younger than him, to them. He didn’t bother trying to fasten them to his back yet, just grabbed them and ran, picking up one of the bags as he barely dodged being sliced in half by a large sword. 

She watched him for just a second, her eyes widening when she saw him going for the bow. Her mind was racing but there was no time to think, she started for the woods behind herself, grabbing one of the backpacks on the way and running away from the bloodbath in the center as fast as she could. She knew she couldn’t stop, that putting distance between her and everyone else was the only way she could survive the day.

Oliver caught a glimpse of Chloe as she ran full-force into the woods, relieved both that she’d managed to get away safely for the time being and glad that she’d also managed to snag one of the backpacks. He drew in a breath after he knocked down the guy with the sword, and he too, barreled into the shelter of the forest. 

* * * 

She had no idea how long she had ran for, but she didn’t stop until her lungs were burning and her legs were shaking. As far as she could tell, she had been the only one to come in this direction, so she allowed herself to walk. 

After walking for a long while longer, she realized the sun was starting to set and since she was, as far as she knew, unarmed, she figured she better start looking for a place to stay the night. She considered the trees, but they were too far up for her to climb, so she managed to find a rock formation that could do as a tiny cave. She gathered some of the bigger leaves and other rocks and threw them around, covering as much of it as she could, then slid inside. 

As far as she knew, she was invisible. And safe for the time being. 

* * * 

“I think this seems like a good place to stop and rest for a little bit,” Josh said, plopping down on one of the rocks and resting his spear on his lap, still holding onto it protectively. 

Oliver pursed his lips, considering him for a moment and nodding, also not setting down his bow and arrows. He glanced at the red-headed woman that had been traveling with them. She reminded him a little of Tess, but this woman was more savage in appearance. Of course, being covered in blood would do that to a person. She’d killed two people as soon as the Games had begun, and so far, they hadn’t been successful in finding a body of water for her to wash off the blood. His jaw was tight for a moment as he sat down on a rock on the other side of the Josh, stretching a little and keeping his eye on her warily.

Chloe had heard the steps before she’d heard the voices. She’d fallen asleep apparently and luckily, they were far enough that they didn’t seem to have heard her when she jerked awake.

It was light out already, so she knew that at her slightest movement, they would notice her. She could see part of them, as far as she could tell there were at least three, but she saw mostly their feet. And she didn’t dare get a better look considering they weren’t far from her. 

“We need to find water.” The redhead said as she sat down.

“Yeah, I’m thirsty,” Josh stated, wiping sweat off his forehead with the back of his arm. 

Oliver nodded a little in agreement. “If it keeps getting hotter, we’re going to be in trouble if we don’t find some soon.” 

“Hopefully the others are already in trouble.” The woman said, pulling out a knife sharpener from her pocket.

“That would make things easier,” he said with a slight shrug, keeping a wary eye on her blade as she started sharpening it. 

When Chloe first heard his voice, she hadn’t been sure. But when she heard it again, she knew it was Oliver. Until that moment, for all she knew, he’d been killed already, but apparently not. Not only was he alive, he had allies. 

“Not as much fun, though,” the woman smirked a little.

“True.” He shrugged a little, leaning forward and resting his elbows on his knees for a moment. 

“Weren’t you stranded on an island or something once? Shouldn’t you know how to find water?” Josh questioned, looking at him. 

“Well, my idea is to go back to where we started. Make a sweep along the farthest edge of the forest and mark where we’ve been so we’re not just walking in circles,” he told the other man.

“They are moving around anyway.” Jessica stood up and stepped in front of Oliver, “where do you think she is?”

Chloe stilled, seeing more of them now that the woman had moved around. _She_.

“Which she are you talking about?” He didn’t get up, simply lifted his gaze to look at her face.

“Your girlfriend, of course,” She said, “I thought you were eager to get her, after she turned you down.”

“I think the heat’s getting to me,” he said with a shrug, rising to his feet. “She’s probably in a tree hiding somewhere.” 

“You two didn’t have a plan?” She asked suspiciously.

“That _was_ the plan for her. She has no fighting skills or experience with any kind of weapons. I told her to stay hidden in the trees as long as possible.” He smirked at her.

“Until you found her and killed her?” Jessica pushed.

“I was going to let her kill me,” he told her with a shrug. 

“But you’ve changed your mind.” Josh said, frowning.

“Why wouldn’t I?” Oliver shook his head. “She doesn’t care about me. All she cares about is making it out of here alive.” There was disgust in his voice. “Screw her.” 

Chloe’s jaw clenched a little at that. The words sounded almost uncharacteristic for Oliver. The only thing she could think of was that he was playing those two too, just like he had planned on playing her.

“We’re wasting our time. We need to find a water source,” he pressed, staring hard at the redhead, who was still eying him with suspicion.

“Let’s go,” Josh agreed, nodding.

She dared turn her head just slightly when they started to move, to make sure that she could tell which direction they were headed.

They’d gotten several yards away when Oliver paused and knelt down to tie his shoelace that had come undone. He moved quickly, heart beating hard in his chest as he nocked an arrow into the bow and sent it straight through the redhead’s head before they even realized he’d stopped.

* * * 

Two days had passed and she was still hiding in her tiny cave. She had moved around, and she had managed to find water, but that had been all she’d had. She was too afraid to try for the leaves in case they were poisonous somehow and she hadn’t found fruit. 

She had, however, managed to find weapons. She had found the red-headed woman dead in the woods minutes after Oliver and the other guy left and considering the precision of the arrow in the woman’s skull, it wasn’t hard to figure out who had killed her. 

Regardless, Chloe was grateful for the collection of knives the woman had. Now she just needed to eat and maybe, just maybe, she could make it. At least for a while longer. 

She shifted out of her small cave and stilled, her eyes widening when she saw fruit around. Berries, some kind of pear looking fruit and what she thought were tomatoes. She wondered if it was a gift from a sponsor, but they couldn’t have dropped them in for her without them being attached to something. Someone had put them there. 

Hesitantly, she picked up all of the fruit, and hid it inside the cave, leaving behind no traces that they were there before. She just stared, considering. This wasn’t safe, she knew as much. Someone was probably trying to kill her. But her stomach felt hollow at this point and she was going to starve herself to death anyway. 

So with a deep breath, she took a bite of the pear-like fruit, even though she wanted to devour it, she ate it slowly, waiting minutes between bites both so it would last longer and so she’d have time to force herself to throw up if necessary. 

It wasn’t until after she had finished half of the fruits that she stopped eating and sighed, feeling fuller again for the first time since the Capitol. And then she paused. A mysterious gift from an unknown source, just left out on her ‘doorstep’. Not only did that mean someone had found her. But she also knew _who_ had found her, because it hadn’t been the first time food had mysteriously appeared for her. 

Back in the district, they had been left fruits, vegetables and game on their door. And now she thought about it, all of the animals had been killed with arrows, and with very precise shots. 

Her face fell and her stomach dropped at the very clear conclusion. It had been him. Now and all along.


	7. Chapter 7

  


By the time the fourth day of the games was over, Oliver was exhausted. He’d barely slept for more than twenty minutes since they’d started. Not only that, but he’d lost track of Chloe the previous day. They were down to five people now by the sound of the canons that blasted every night, the amount of blasts signalling how many had died in the games that day. He just hoped like hell Chloe was one of the five remaining. He didn’t want to think about the possibility that she wasn’t. 

He was almost out of arrows, as well, and he knew if he didn’t make more soon, not only was he going to be screwed when it came to battles, but it was the main way he was staying fed. He’d never enjoyed hunting animals--not even during his time on the island, and truth be told, he rarely ate meat before the Kandorians had taken over. Now there were so few options remaining, he had no choice. Since the games began, he’d managed to find some fruit, but rabbits and squirrel were more prominent. 

Dropping down to the base of a tree after he’d gathered plenty of fallen branches and sticks, he pulled out the small knife that had been in his backpack at the start of the games. He began to sharpen one of the sticks, losing himself in the monotony. 

* * * 

Chloe was still there. Somehow. She had kept completely out of sight and out of the way of the others and since the morning when she found the fruits in front of her cave, she had left it behind and had started to use the trees instead. She didn’t feel nearly as safe, but at least with the climbing of the trees, she’d managed to find some of the fruits Oliver had left her and she’d been keeping herself somewhat fed. 

She had no idea if he was still there or not, there were four more people in the arena and she knew it wouldn’t be much longer before the end of the Games. And she was exhausted, so she knew she had no real fighting chance anymore. The only way she could win was if they simply didn’t find her. 

On her way toward the stream, however, she heard a quiet whooshing noise and stilled then began walking as quietly as the leaves on the ground would allow her to and pulled out one of the knives she’d stolen from the woman’s body. The one productive thing she’d done with her time was practice throwing knives at trees, in case she needed to use them on a person. 

With a few more steps and still concealed by one large tree, she poked her head to the side and saw Oliver. Ignoring the instant relief she felt when she realized he was alive. The last thing she wanted was for this to come down between the two of them. 

She watched him for a moment, clearly he was carving arrows out of the wood he’d found, but a moment later, she saw something moving behind him and tensed. Her knife ready once more.

He was too engrossed in what he was doing to sense the movement behind him until he felt intense, sharp pain in his shoulder that sent him rolling away instinctively, even as he felt the hot rush of blood spilling from the wound that the sword had inflicted. 

Dazed, he looked up to see the big guy that had tried to kill him when the games first began looming over him with a dark smirk on his face. 

“So glad I get to be the one to kill your pretty boy ass,” the man said, raising the sword once more. 

And this was it. He knew that much because now he was injured _and_ too far away from his weapons to really have a fighting chance. He drew in a deep breath and waited for the inevitable blow.

She had no idea what had happened, but she didn’t hesitate. She threw the first knife and as the man turned his back to her to stand over Oliver, the knife cut right through his back and stayed there. Her heart was racing, but she didn’t stop until the man had three knives sticking out of him, two against his back, one against his chest and he was suddenly on the ground.

Blinking as the man collapsed in a heap beside him, Oliver’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion and he shifted his gaze to see her standing there. He stared at her wide-eyed, wondering how the hell she’d learned to throw knives like that.

Chloe stared down at the man then at Oliver, her own eyes wide. She didn’t move until the cannon sounded, she knew they would eventually come to remove the body, so she rushed closer and pulled her knives out of him, her stomach turning as she blood gushed from the wounds, but she didn’t stop. She had no idea what Oliver’s next move was going to be and right then, she was unarmed. 

Oliver’s next move was to close his eyes and lay back on the ground, exhaling deeply. “Thanks,” he murmured.

After wiping her knives clean on the other man’s clothes, she took a step back and nodded a little, watching Oliver closely but cautiously. He was hurt, obviously, but worse, he was hurt on his shoulder and she knew he needed it to shoot arrows, so he was pretty much harmless at that point, not only to her, but to everyone.

He managed to give her a tiny smile as he opened his eyes, looking up at her but not trying to sit up. “Glad you’re still alive,” he admitted.

She remained quiet, watching him for a moment before stepping closer and hesitating before pulling her backpack to the ground and picking out bandage tape, “you’re bleeding.”

“Yeah.” He drew in a breath and looked at his shoulder for a moment, then nodded toward the bow. “The arrows that are left aren’t perfect, but they should do.” He motioned toward the bow that lay on the ground by the base of the tree where he’d been sitting. 

Chloe glanced toward the bow and arrows but ignored it for now, “can you sit up?”

“Don’t really see the point,” he admitted.

Her jaw tightened at that, “so I can see if he cut you through your shoulder.”

He chewed the inside of his cheek for a moment, struggling for a moment from dizziness, then managing to sit up slowly.

She took his good arm and helped him straighten a little then shifted to kneel down next to him, ripping his shirt further so she could take a better look at the wound, “do you have any water?”

“About a fourth of a bottle. In my bag,” he told her, blinking a few times to try and clear his vision.

She reached for it and opened, pulling the water bottle a second later, but not before noticing the fruit he had in there, some of the same he had left her. She took a deep breath then turned to the injury, cleaning the wound with the water from his bottle slowly so she wouldn’t waste any of it.

“You doing okay?” he asked tiredly.

“I’m not hurt,” she said, glancing at him, “so better than you, apparently.”

A faint smile touched his mouth. “Touche.” 

“Have you slept at all?” She asked, wincing as she saw the cut, it wasn’t long, but the blade had cut through his shoulder and she could imagine how much pain he was in.

“A few minutes here and there. Not a lot.” He didn’t ask the same question of her, he’d known she’d gotten at least some sleep, because she’d been asleep each time he’d checked on her throughout the nights in the cave.

Chloe nodded a little, “maybe if you get some rest, this will heal faster,” she told him then started to wrap his shoulder up.

“Chloe Sullivan, the eternal optimist,” he murmured, watching her as she wrapped his shoulder.

She gave him a look and shook her head, “we should go back to the cave, did anyone else know about it?”

“Of course not,” he said, shaking his head.

Nodding, she took a deep breath. He had pretty much saved her life with the fruit, this would make them even. Once she had the bandage tight around his shoulder, she closed both of their backpacks and stood up, “can you walk?”

Oliver gazed at her for a moment and used his uninjured arm to push himself to his feet, a little unsteadily. “I think so.” 

She picked up her things along with his backpack, his bow and the arrows he’d made then nodded, “let’s go.”

He drew in a shaky breath, following her slowly and trying to keep his eyes and ears open for any approaching threat--one of the two surviving tributes. 

It took them a lot longer than it should have to make it back to the cave but luckily, they got there without being discovered, once Chloe dropped their bags and things on the ground next to Oliver, she straightened, “I’m gonna go get water before it gets dark.”

“Be careful,” he murmured, slowly sitting down on the ground of the cave and then laying back against the cave wall, shutting his eyes.

She watched him for a moment then stepped closer and pressed one of her knives to his hand, “keep this,” she said, “you can still aim.”

He took it from her, gripping it in his hand and nodding. He could. He just wouldn’t be able to exert much force to throw it at anyone. “All right.” 

Chloe kept her eyes on him for a moment then took both their water bottles and made her way out of the cave quickly, the less time he was on his own, the less risk he was in.

* * * 

When he was feverish, he had a tendency to talk in his sleep. In his sleep, he saw Davis Bloome and Chloe, just out of reach. His breathing was shallow and raspy, beads of sweat on his forehead. “Chloe,” he murmured, his eyebrows furrowing.

She had been somewhere between keeping watch and nodding off when she heard her name and instantly, she sat up, pointing the knife in her hand toward the entrance of the small cave. Then she blinked when she saw no one there and glanced down at Oliver, who seemed to be asleep. “Oliver?” She asked quietly, touching his good arm.

He turned his head toward her, opening his eyes for a moment, barely able to see her in the darkness. “Hi,” he whispered.

“Shh,” she told him, “did you call me?”

“Don’t have a phone,” he murmured, closing his eyes again. 

“Of course you don’t--” she paused, “do you know where you are?”

“Not really.” 

Chloe hesitated for a moment then placed her hand on his forehead and held her breath, “you’re burning up.” She whispered as her stomach dropped.

“Well. I’ve always been hot,” he joked, shivering a little, and wincing when it jarred his shoulder. 

“Unfortunately for you, this isn’t the good kind of hot,” she reached a hand under his head and lifted it gently, “you need to drink water.”

He leaned into her touch instantly, letting out a breath. “Am thirsty,” he admitted. 

“Here,” she pressed the bottle to his lips and helped him drink slowly until he pulled away, “are you hungry?”

He made a face, shaking his head. “Not at all. What’s going on?” 

“You’re hurt,” she told him quietly.

“You’re okay?” He shivered, closing his eyes again.

“Yeah,” she whispered, nodding slightly, “are you sure you’re not hungry?”

“Am sure,” he murmured. “Keep it. Gonna need it. Not over yet.” He reached out with his good hand and laid his hand on her arm. 

Chloe looked down at his hand and nodded a little, “there is enough for both of us.” She whispered.

“Chloe.” He swallowed hard. “We both know there’s no point.” 

“Don’t say that.” She told him firmly, shaking her head, “I’m not letting you die.”

“You don’t have a choice,” he told her quietly. “This is your best option anyway. Unless you really _wanted_ to kill me, which...I guess I understand that too.” 

“I want you to _win_ ,” she said, the words just escaping her.

The ghost of a smile touched his mouth. “That’s never been the plan,” he whispered.

“It has been,” she pushed, swallowing hard, “because you can do much more than I can.”

“Not what...we decided.” He licked his lips, already feeling them growing dry again. 

“We?” Chloe frowned, “who is we?”

“Me and...Carter,” he murmured.

Her jaw clenched, but she shook her head, “you’re lying. I know he wants you to win too, Oliver. It’s obvious.”

He smiled faintly at that, but didn’t open his eyes. “Good actor.” 

“Bullshit.” She said tightly, then shook her head, “but I don’t care. That’s not my plan anyway.” She hadn’t really thought about this, she had been too busy being angry at him until recently, but she knew it made sense. Lois and Clark would need his help and skills to take down those towers, more than they would need hers.

“Too bad.” He forced himself to take a deep breath, wincing as he forced himself to sit up, his head spinning for a moment and making him feel nauseous. Almost like he’d simply had too much to drink. If only. 

Her stomach turned and she shook her head, shoving the knife in his hand again, “then just kill me, so that there will be only you and someone else left and you can get it over with.”

He set the knife down immediately, leaning back against the cave wall. “Look at me,” he whispered. “You really think I’d have _any_ chance of taking out one of the others at this point?” He shook his head a little and exhaled slowly. “I got as many as I could.” 

“Then maybe I should go do it so you only have to take one of us out.” She told him, “because I’m not going to just sit here and let you die and ending the games is the fastest way to get you help.”

Oliver forced himself to open his eyes. They were tired and dimmer than usual. “No,” he said quietly.

“Then give me a better option.” She said tightly.

“Just stay with me,” he murmured. “Let the other two fight it out. And you stay here with me.” 

“And watch you die,” she said tightly, “no. I might as well have killed you myself if I do that.”

“It’s what I want,” he told her honestly, closing his eyes.

“And what _I_ want obviously makes no difference to you.” Chloe told him angrily, “but you can’t stop me.” She said as she stood up and took his bow and arrows.

Oliver picked up the knife he’d laid down beside him. “The only reason I volunteered was to protect you. I’m not walking away from this.” 

Her eyes widened at that and she turned to look at him, “what do you mean you volunteered because of me?”

He let out a breath, opening his eyes again and looking up at her. “You thought I was lying, but I wasn’t,” he whispered.

“Why would you do that? You haven’t even seen me in almost three years, Oliver.” She pressed, kneeling back down.

“Because I love you,” he said quietly. “I have for a long time. All that stuff with Davis and...” He couldn’t bring himself to say Jimmy’s name, instead closing his eyes again. “I’m so sorry.” His voice dropped to a whisper. 

Her face fell as she stared at him, her eyes tearing up a little and her stomach tight. She didn’t know what to think, didn’t understand how this could all be true. 

And then she heard a faint, electronic noise just outside the cave. In an instant, she was on her feet again, with a knife pointing at the small hole.

“What was that?” he murmured, turning his head toward the cave’s entrance and letting out a breath.

“Shh,” she whispered, looking outside carefully then frowning when she saw a small box on the ground, just outside. After a quick look around, she picked up the box and rushed back inside, her heart skipping a beat. “A gift.”

He blinked a couple of times, raising his eyebrows. “Really?” 

Nodding, she looked down at him for a moment, feeling sick. Of course they had gotten a gift, he had been playing his game. Telling her he loved her, that he had volunteered for her. That’s what the sponsors wanted. Blinking, she opened the box and nodded, “it’s some kind of ointment, it must be for your wounds.” 

He rolled his eyes, shaking his head a little. “Keep it. You might need it before it’s over.” 

“It’s a gift for _you_ ,” she said firmly, already undoing the bandages from around his shoulder. “Sit up so I won’t get dirt on it.”

Oliver reached out and caught her hand in his. “Chloe. _Stop_ ,” he whispered. 

She held his gaze, her own intense, “you can’t tell me you came here for me and not let me do the very minimum for you, Oliver. Not after everything.” 

He swallowed hard, leaning his head back against the cave wall and struggling to sit up.

Chloe took a deep breath and removed the rest of the blood-soaked bandages. It looked bad. A lot worse than it had a few hours before. But she pasted the ointment onto the wound, on both sides of his shoulder, as well as she could. Then covered them again with what she had left of the bandages.

He held his breath the entire time, pain shooting through his shoulder even at the lightest touch. “Thanks,” he murmured. “I uh--I could use another drink of water if there’s any to spare.” 

She wiped her hands clean on her clothes, then picked up his water and held it toward him, “there’s about a fourth of it left.”

He hesitated, then sighed softly and shook his head. 

“I have more in my bottle,” she lied, lifting his to his lips.

At that, he relaxed and took a sip of the water, closing his eyes as he swallowed it down. He was burning up, and he couldn’t remember the last time that he hurt physically as much as he did then. 

“Do you feel anything different on your shoulder?” She asked once he finished the water.

“Not so far,” he said quietly. Not that he’d been expecting to. He wasn’t sure there was any kind of miracle cure for an injury like the one he was sporting.

“Try to get some rest,” she told him, resuming her position on the floor next to him.

He drew in a breath and let it out slowly, uncurling his legs and laying down once more, resting his head on his uninjured arm, his body faced toward her. 

Chloe watched him for a moment then took a deep breath and looked away. He seemed to have calmed down all of the sudden, she wanted to think it was because his plan to get a sponsor had work. But part of her couldn’t shake off how real his words had sounded.

* * * 

He woke up alone, the sound of the cannon announcing that one of the other tributes had met their end. He blinked a few times to clear his vision, surprised that his shoulder actually felt a little better than before he’d passed out. He looked around the cave, but didn’t see any sign of Chloe. His heart began to beat faster in his chest and he quickly forced himself to his feet, moving toward the mouth of the cave. 

Had she gone out and gotten hurt? 

Had that cannon sounded to announce _her_ death? 

She was running, as fast as she could. She had been getting more fruits and water when the cannon went off and she found herself rushing to Oliver’s side as fast as possible. To make sure the cannon hadn’t been for him. On the way back to the cave she had slipped and tripped more times than she cared to count, but it didn’t matter. She was almost there now.

Oliver had just crawled out of the cave when he caught sight of her running toward him and wordlessly he moved forward, wrapping his arms around her tightly.

Chloe gasped and it took her half a second to realize it was him, and when she did, she wrapped her arms tightly around him too. “It wasn’t you.” She whispered, not realizing she was speaking out loud.

“Or you,” he whispered back, shutting his eyes and holding onto her. 

She closed her eyes and kept her arms around him for a moment longer, then pulled back. “Do you know who? Did you hear anything?”

“The cannon woke me up.” He shook his head, looking at her intently and lifting his hand to her cheek. 

With a deep breath, she nodded slightly, staring up at him, “I went to get water and fruits.”

He closed his eyes for a moment, then rested his forehead against hers. “You scared the hell out of me,” he whispered.

She watched him for a moment, then nodded slightly and closed her eyes too. “Ditto.”

Oliver drew in a breath, then pulled away to look at her at once more. “You know what this means.” His voice was quiet. 

“We’re down to three.” She said, her stomach dropping.

He exhaled, nodding a little, his smile faint but his eyes sad. Wordlessly, he leaned in, dipping his head and kissing her on the mouth, soft and gentle and sweet.

Chloe stilled for a moment, surprised not only by the kiss but also by how comforting it felt. Between the fact that she had just thought Oliver had died and knowing that one of them wouldn’t stay alive for much longer, she couldn’t turn away from comfort, so she kissed him back just as softly.

When she returned the kiss, he slowly slid one hand up and into her hair, fingers weaving through the golden strands. “I meant what I said,” he whispered against her mouth. “Don’t forget it.” 

She stared at him for a moment, then blinked a couple of times as she tried to make sense of his words for a moment before shaking her head. “I did too.” She whispered back, pulling away to hold his gaze. She didn’t plan on letting him die either, “how is your arm?”

“Good enough,” he told her quietly. “We need to work on finding the other tribute.” 

Nodding, she took a deep breath and straightened. “Let’s go back to the cave, eat what I found and go hunting.” She said, her face growing blank.

Oliver nodded a little, kissing her cheek without thinking about it, and reaching down to take her hand in his. He led them back inside the cave, letting out a breath. “What did you find for food?” 

“Some of the same stuff you had and another kind of berries, but I don’t know if they are edible or not.” She told him while staring down at their hands as she tried to understand what he was doing.

“Let’s see them,” he suggested.

Chloe took a deep breath and nodded, pulling her hand away from his as she placed the backpack on the floor, then opened it. “Here’s your water.” She said, handing the bottle to him before picking one of the weird looking berries.

His eyes widened a little. “Don’t eat that,” he warned quickly, shaking his head. “They’re poisonous.” 

She blinked and nodded, dropping it inside the backpack before picking up the rest of the food, “good thing I didn’t waste too much time with them, then.”

He nodded in agreement. “We should wash our hands just to be on the safe side.”

Nodding, she picked up her own bottle and held it over his hands, “hold them out.”

He did as she requested, rubbing his hands together under the stream of water.

Once he was done, she held her bottle out to him, “I’ll wash the fruits again too.”

“All right.” He poured some water over her hands so she could get cleaned up.

She washed the fruits she had after washing her own hands. It wasn’t much, but at least it should be enough to keep them going for a few hours, to hunt down the missing tribute and then convince him to get rid of her so he could go back to District 12 and help Lois and Clark take the towers down.


	8. Chapter 8

  


Once they had finished off all of their food, had refilled their water bottles and gotten rid of all of the unnecessary weight from their backpacks, they started their way through the forest once more. She didn’t want to think about what they were trying to accomplish. Hunting a person like an animal was not something she’d ever considered doing before, not a human anyway. 

She glanced at Oliver as they made their way down a hill, she had no idea where they were at this point but it really didn’t matter. “Do you think you can shoot?”

“I think so,” he said quietly, glancing at his arm. He’d lost a lot of blood, but whatever was in the medicine that the sponsors had sent had done wonders for the pain and the healing process. He hadn’t even known something like that existed.

“Do you wanna try a couple of times while we’re still safe?” She asked. As safe as they could be anyways.

He pursed his lips, then nodded a little. “Better now than finding out in the heat of the moment I can’t, right?” 

“And when we can get the arrows back and not waste them.” She agreed.

Oliver drew in a breath, setting his backpack down on the ground and shifting his quiver around to get to it more easily, drawing his bow.

She stepped aside watching him closely as he prepare. It was probably a good idea to get him to practice a little anyway, use his arm to get used to it again.

After a long moment, Oliver lifted the bow up and fired a shot into a tree about a hundred yards away, efficiently cutting off the small branch he’d been aiming for. He winced a little as he lowered it again.

Chloe just stared for a full moment, then turned toward him, “did you hit the target?” She asked. While she could tell he had hit something, she had no idea what he was aiming for. 

A faint smile touched his mouth and he nodded a little. “Yeah.” 

She relaxed a little and nodded, “good. Are you in pain?”

“A little,” he admitted. “But nothing unbearable.” 

“So you think that you could keep going if you had to?” She asked, she needed to know as much at least.

“I’ll be fine,” he assured her.

“Good,” she breathed, looking at him for a moment then nodding, “let’s keep going then.”

Nodding, Oliver shifted his quiver and bow around once more and led the way through the dense forest. 

They walked in silence for a long time, Chloe was fairly sure she hadn’t been to this part of the arena yet, but Oliver had a lot more experience with navigating through woods and unknown areas so she trusted his sense of direction. 

She glanced to their right, and all of the sudden stilled. “Oliver.” She said, pointing at the smoke that was suddenly appearing in the sky above another portion of the woods, thick and black, not like the smoke from a camp fire. 

He turned, looking in the direction she was pointing. His eyes widened a little. “Oh, shit,” he muttered. He put his hand at the small of her back. “Run.” 

She took off in the opposite direction from the fire a second later, making sure only that he was coming with her. There was no telling how quickly the fire would spread, but the smoke would certainly hit them soon enough. 

He was right behind her, already beginning to cough from the stench in the air of the burning wood. If the Kandorians were trying to kill them, this would be an effective way to do that.

Chloe barely glanced back when she saw a ball of fire heading their way, without hesitating, she reached for Oliver’s hand and pulled him to the ground even as she threw herself down as well, the fire missing them by inches. 

He felt the heat roll right over him, right above his head. If Chloe hadn’t pulled him to the ground when she had, he would have been on fire. “You all right?” he asked quickly.

She breathed and turned to look over at him, nodding slightly. “You?”

He nodded, too. “We need to move faster,” he whispered, glancing over his shoulder and climbing to his feet quickly. He held his hand out to her.

Taking his hand without hesitation, she nodded as they started running again, “lets get out of the woods,” she breathed, “the smoke will get worse in here.” 

“We’re gonna have to go back to the cornucopia,” he told her, panting for breath.

“Lead the way.” She said, holding her breath as much as she could not to breath in the smoke that was already making her light-headed. 

He squeezed her hand as they ran through the woods as quickly as they could, following the stream back toward the cornucopia where the games had begun. They managed to duck two more fireballs and as soon as they made it out of the forest, the heat that had been intensifying on his back grew cooler. He paused, looking over his shoulder and realizing that he’d been right: the Kandorians had forced them out of the woods intentionally. Which meant the games were coming to a very quick end. 

Chloe noticed the same thing instantly, the woods were burning on all sides, but the cornucopia remained untouched. No more hiding. And she knew that the last competitor, whoever it was, wasn’t going to be far behind. 

Without hesitation she turned and pressed her back against Oliver’s her hand still in his for the time being, “Do you see them anywhere?”

“No,” he admitted, looking around cautiously. And that wasn’t good. Suddenly a knife buzzed right by his head, and he tightened his grip on Chloe’s hand. “Move!” he said urgently, letting go of her and quickly pulling his bow from his uninjured shoulder. 

She ducked just in time and then turned toward the direction where the knife had come from, one of her own knives flying toward it just a second later. But she couldn’t see the person, whoever they were. 

“I’m so glad it came down to the two of you. Let me do you lovebirds a favor so you don’t have to live without one another,” the male voice said, even though Oliver couldn’t see where he was, either.

Chloe glanced quickly at Oliver and when her own knife flew back at then, she stilled again, “hide behind the cornucopia,” she breathed to Oliver, grabbing his arm and dragging him toward it. 

“Go,” he said, nocking an arrow into his bow and turning toward the sound of the man’s voice.

“No.” She said, “come with me, we’ll draw him out.”

“Just go. I can do this,” he told her, not turning around.

“ _No._ ” She said firmly, tossing one more of her knives, she was down to four now, and then grabbing Oliver’s good arm and starting to drag him. 

Another knife whizzed by his head and he yanked his arm away from her, raising his bow and firing an arrow in the direction it had come from. A second later the cannon sounded and he held his breath. 

Chloe stilled, her eyes widening as she stared at the woods, it could only have been that man, the one they hadn’t even seen his face. And that meant that it was down to the two of them.

Oliver stared off into the distance for a long moment, then lowered his bow, holding his breath as he turned toward her, a grim expression on his face. 

Her stomach dropped and she took a step backward then reached for one of her knives.

“Wait,” he said quietly, kneeling down and setting his bow on the ground and taking a step toward her. 

“No.” She told him, lifting her wrist and pressing the blade of her knife to it, her eyes tearing up as she did her best to keep her expression blank, “if you do it with an arrow it will be fast and painless, if I do it, it’ll be slow.”

“Stop,” he whispered, reaching out and taking the knife from her, tossing it away. He lifted his hand to her cheek, cupping it gently. 

Chloe stilled and looked up at him, swallowing hard. “You’ll do it, then.” She said, her heart beating fast.

Wordlessly, he dipped his head and kissed her softly on the mouth. 

She closed her eyes tightly for a moment then kissed him back just as softly, her chest tight. She wanted him to go back and help Lois and Clark, but knowing she wasn’t going to ever see them again. That she was going to be dead in a few minutes made this unbearably hard.

“I have a plan.” His voice was barely a whisper against her lips, his nose brushing over hers. 

Blinking her eyes open, she stared up at him, hesitating for a moment before wrapping her arms around his neck and turning her head toward his cheek so it would hide her mouth. “What plan?”

He shifted like he was going to kiss her neck, instead whispering against her ear. “The berries. You still have them in your pack.” 

She closed her eyes tightly at that and took a deep breath, “how fast will it be?”

“If I’m right, neither of us is going to die,” he murmured, kissing her jaw before pulling away to look at her.

Frowning, she looked up at him, confused. She wanted to ask more, but she couldn’t. She knew they were on TV, all over the country or what was left of it. It didn’t make sense. 

“I’m not going to kill you. And if you’re not going to kill me, then this is our only way out,” he said quietly, kneeling down to where she’d dropped her backpack, retrieving the poison berries she’d picked hours ago. He grabbed a handful of them, then reached out and took her hand in his, dumping a few into her palm and keeping the rest for himself, and hoping like hell he wasn’t wrong.

“What if it doesn’t work?” She asked, looking down at the berries. She had no idea what it would do to them if it wasn’t going to kill them, but if they were still alive, they would be back where they were now.

“Trust me,” he whispered, meeting her gaze. 

She knew she had no other choice at this point and if they survived, hopefully she would wake up before he did and would have enough time to finish things. “Okay.” She whispered then lifted the berry to her lips slowly, watching him.

He did the same, his heart thundering in his chest. It was so loud it took him a second to realize that there was an announcement coming through the airwaves and he paused. 

“STOP!” the voice commanded. “This year, we are making an exception to the rules. This year, there are two winners to the annual Hunger Games!” 

Chloe stilled, dropping the berries to the ground a second later and taking a deep breath as she stared wide-eyed at Oliver.

Oliver stared back at her, half in disbelief that it had actually worked, and half in relief. After a few seconds, he smiled and quickly pulled her into a hug.

She wrapped her arms around him too, her body suddenly a little less responsive as the tension started to dissipate. 

“We made it,” he murmured. 

Pursing her lips together, she nodded slightly and closed her eyes, tightening her arms around him. She wasn’t going to die. And she wasn’t going to have to stop him from killing himself. She was going to see Lois and Clark again and maybe, their plan would succeed with Oliver’s help. 

She should be happy but somehow this felt too easy. Things with Zod had never been easy. And she knew he had absolutely no compassion for them or their people, so why would he agree to this? Why let them both live?

* * * 

Carter waited impatiently for her to unlock the door to her room, then stepped inside as soon as she opened it, shutting it behind him. “We have to talk.” 

Chloe stared up at him, she’d been expecting it to be Oliver since they hadn’t really talked since they were pulled out from the arena. Not that they’d had the time between the crowning of the victors and quickly being shoved back on the train to their district. But she was both relieved that it wasn’t him and annoyed that it was Carter. She’d actually been hoping for Cat at this point. “What about? Your job is done.” 

“Far from it,” he said grimly, staring at her intently. “The fact that two of you were able to make it out of there is a miracle, but _your_ work is just getting started.” 

He had no idea how true that was. Or she hoped he didn’t because she didn’t trust him. “What are you talking about?”

“You have no idea why you were both allowed to live, do you?” His voice grew even quieter. 

“I know it’s not because Zod thinks we make a cute couple.” She said blankly. 

Carter sighed softly. “It’s because if the two of you had killed yourselves in there, that means they _lost_. Not to mention the fact that it would have caused an uprising.” 

“How would they have lost?” She asked, shaking her head, “one less human in the world than they’d hoped for. I seriously doubt anyone other than maybe two people cared enough about our deaths to cause an uprising, Carter.” She told him, making her way back to her bed.

He looked at her dubiously. “Because they weren’t able to _control_ you. And you’re going to be shocked by how many people care about the two of you. Your support from the people at the capitol was overwhelming. I’ve never seen anything like it.” 

Chloe stared at him for a moment, crossing her feet over the bed, “okay.” She said, even if she didn’t believe him, she would need to see some of the reports about the games herself before she could buy a word he said, “so what do you expect me to do with this?”

“You’re going to have to step up the act. You’re going to have to make _everyone_ believe that the reason you couldn’t bring yourself to kill Oliver was because you are so in love with him you’d rather die than live without him.” He stared at her intently. “Because that is the only chance you have of getting by with this.” 

All she could do was stare at him some more. She shook her head and frowned, “what? What does that matter to anyone? We’re going back, we’ll just go back to our normal lives and I probably won’t see him again after the train ride.” She argued. 

Carter actually rolled his eyes at her. “The entire _world_ will be watching every move the two of you make for a long time. Do you really think you can play Zod and get by with it? The _only_ shot you have is convincing him and the rest of them that you weren’t _playing_ them at all.” 

“I _wasn’t_!” She told him, shaking her head, “Oliver was supposed to walk out, I meant it when I told him to kill me. If anyone had an agenda, it was him.”

“It doesn’t matter. They’re all convinced that he’s in love with you,” he responded. 

“So what? It was still his plan and _yours_ , you were both just using me to get him out of there.” She said firmly, “I’m not just going to sit around and play lovesick when I get back to keep feeding your bullshit tactics.” 

“Then you’ll both be killed,” he informed her. “Or worse, end up like _Dinah_.” 

Chloe stilled at that and looked away at the memory of Dinah, then shook her head, “what happened to her?”

“She’s an Avox now.” His jaw tightened and he looked away, too. “They’re servants. They cut out their tongues.” 

“What?” She stilled, eyes widening, “why? What did she do?”

“Rebelled against them. Somehow. I don’t know the specifics.” His voice was gruff and he looked away, again.

“Were you involved?” She asked, eyes narrowing. 

“If I had been, I’d be just like she is now,” he said harshly.

“Or maybe you got away and left her there to take the blame.” She said firmly. 

He took a step toward her, glaring at her. “I’ve known that girl since she was a baby,” he said, his eyes dark and narrowed. “Don’t talk about things you don’t understand, Kid.” 

“You should take your own advice.” She told him, not backing away. 

He smiled, but it was devoid of humor. “Then it’s your own funerals,” he told her, heading for the door. “And the funerals of everyone you’ve ever cared about.” 

Chloe’s jaw clenched at that and she stared as he left her room. She’d stopped caring about what happened to her a long time ago. But the last thing she wanted was for Clark and Lois to get hurt and she had no doubt that Carter was right about _that_.

Which meant she was going to keep playing the Games. And go along with whatever situation Oliver had put them in.


End file.
